Harri Koskinen and Vuokko at Rohsska Museum

Awarded the prestigious Torsten and Wanja Söderberg Award last month, Harri Koskinen was given a solo exhibition at the Rohsska Museum, Gothenburg. Curated as a retrospective, the exhibition shows his breadth as a designer; including furniture, textiles, glass, clocks, lamps and included examples from what have already become classics to his very latest creations.

We at Relay loved his ‘Fatty’ containers (below), amazingly produced 10 years ago. New designs included ‘Folded Light’ (shown in red) which sat alongside ‘Pur’ tablelamp for Marset and ‘Asteroide’ chandelier for Venini (also a new design). New textiles included monochrome designs for Marimekko.

Other Marimekko designs at Rohsska Museum could be found in the retrospective for Finnish designer Vuokko Eskolin-Nurmesniemi ‘the fashion queen of modernism’ and the woman responsible for giving Marimekko their instantly recognizable style.

The exhibition covers 40 years of amazingly stylish and contemporary designs which are as fresh as her 2010 collection which is also including in the exhibition.

www.designmuseum.se

www.harrikoskinen.com

www.marimekko.fi

Kosta Boda Art Hotel

While visiting our friends at Örsjö Belysning, we had the opportunity to stay at the new Kosta Boda Art Hotel. Famed for their glass designs, Kosta Boda opened their Art Hotel in July 2009.

Asking their artists to design specific rooms and areas within the hotel, our favorites included the hotel lounge by Ludvig Löfgren, with furniture by Duxiana (below).

We also loved the Spa designed by Åsa Jungnelius, who recently showed in London at the Vessel Gallery, as part of the London Design Festival in September and at Super Design in October (see our earlier post).

Check out this video for a closer tour of the Kosta Boda Art Hotel.

www.kostabodaarthotel.se

Welcome to Örsjö

Deep in the Swedish countryside, set in a wood of fir trees sits the small town of Örsjö, the namesake of lighting design house – Örsjö Belysning. We at Relay were very lucky to get a tour of their factory and a sneaky peak at their new collection, which will be launched at the Stockholm Furniture Fair in February.

The Örsjö collection is created by some of Scandinavia’s leading designers including Norway Says and Jonas Bohlin, as well as Matti Klenell (who designed Mushroom, pictured below ready to be packed). With its white lacquered steel and optional orange highlights Mushroom is a perfect illustration of Örsjö’s desire to produce classic designs with a contemporary edge.

With 60 years of hands-on production the Örsjö factory is filled with skilled crafts people and technicians who expertly create their unique and beautiful lights. Seeing such skill at work, it is now obvious how Örsjö is able to produce unique commissions alongside their standard production. Over their long history they have had a great deal of experience developing customised lighting solutions resulting in several close collaborations with architects and clients.

We cannot wait to the Stockholm Furniture Fair and the launch of their 2010 collection.

www.orsjo.com

www.stockholmfurniturefair.com